Index down by 0.24 per cent as stock market reopens bearish

FOLLOWING price losses suffered by most bluechip stocks, transactions on the equities sector of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) reopened on a downturn yesterday, as the Allshare index depreciated by 0.24 per cent.

Specifically, at the close of transactions yesterday, the All Share Index (ASI) was down by 199.92 absolute points, representing a decrease of 76.76 points or 0.24 per cent to close at 32,048.18 points. Similarly, the market capitalisation decreased by N28 billion, to close at N11.7 trillion.

The downturn was impacted by losses recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are; Unilever Nigeria, Nigeria Breweries, cement Company of Northern Nigeria (CCNN), Northern Nigeria Flour Mills (NNFM) and Ecobank Transnational Corporation.

Analysts at Afrinvest Limited said that, “yesterday, we observed a largely positive performance till the last hour of trading as investors’ profit taking on large counters wiped off early trading gains. Nonetheless, we opine that bargain-hunting would lift performance tomorrow while maintaining our near term bearish outlook.”

The Chief Executive Officer of Investdata Reseach Consulting, Ambrose Omodion said: “We expect mixed performance this week, as sell-off and repositioning continue; as investors and fund managers interpret the Q3 filings to enable them to re-balance their portfolios, while watching the political space and analyzing the numbers expected to give an insight into expectations for Q3 GDP and full year company earnings power.

“These are likely to drive prices north, or south, while determining market direction before or after Presidential election. Investors should review their positions in line with investment goals, strength of the company numbers and act as events unfold in the global and domestic environment.” Market breadth closed negative, recorded 17 gainers against 24 losers. Cadbury Nigeria and UAC of Nigeria recorded the highest price gain of 10 per cent, each to close at N9.90, each, while Presco followed with a gain of 9.86 per cent to close at N65.75, per share.

Mcnichols rose by 9.76 per cent to close at 45 kobo, while Fidson Medical appreciated by 8.70 per cent to close at N5 per share. On the other hand, CCNN led the losers’ chart by 9.38 per cent, to close at N18.35, per share. NNFM followed with a decline of 9.35 per cent to close at N4.85, while Prestige Assurance lost 8.93 per cent to close at 51 kobo, per share.